The Unknown Practice of Jesus: Counting of Omer and Why It Matters
What if the most theologically significant moment in the early Jesus movement was not an arbitrary occurrence but the culmination of a daily Jewish liturgical observance in which Jesus himself participated?
The practice of counting the Omer derives directly from the Torah:
וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת־עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה׃ עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה לַיהוָה׃
“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf (omer, עֹמֶר) of the wave offering: seven full Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.” (Lev 23:15–16)
(While the New Testament does not record Jesus personally counting each day, as a Torah-observant Jew he would have been fully immersed in this liturgical rhythm.)
The term omer itself denotes a dry measure of barley, roughly equivalent to a sheaf. The commandment, however, institutes a daily ritual of anticipation for every observant Israelite. Commencing on the second night of Passover, the community would verbally enumerate each of the forty-nine days leading to the festival of Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת, literally “Weeks”). The Greek term “pentēkostē” (πεντηκoστή, “fiftieth”) designates the climactic fiftieth day, counting inclusively from the day after the Passover Sabbath (according to Pharisaic reckoning, Nisan 16; a minority Second Temple tradition began from the weekly Sabbath during Passover). This was far from an obscure prescription; it was a national, calendrical rhythm that transformed a simple agricultural harvest into a spiritual rehearsal. By the Second Temple period, tradition had firmly associated Shavuot with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai (a connection attested in the Book of Jubilees 1:1, 6:17, and later in b. Pesachim 68b), thus layering a covenantal significance upon the agricultural feast.
While the New Testament does not mention Jesus counting the 49 days of the Omer period, his and his disciples’ actions demonstrate that they operated wholly within this liturgical framework.
The Mosaic Law mandated pilgrimage to Jerusalem for three regalim (רְגָלִים, standard pilgrimage festivals), including Shavuot. As Torah-observant Jews, Jesus and his followers adhered to this divinely ordained calendar. The Book of Acts confirms that the apostles continued to attend the Temple at the prescribed hours of prayer (Acts 2:46, 3:1). Acts 2:1 states, “When the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in one place.” That they gathered in the upper room (Acts 1:13) rather than the Temple courts does not diminish their observance; the requirement to count was not location-dependent, and their unity of place underscores their unity of purpose. They were not merely aware of the date; they were actively counting every single day.
(The Gospels present different sequences and details; what follows is a composite harmonization for theological reflection, not a strict daily chronology.)
Post-Resurrection Appearances
The most striking dimension of this timeline is that every post-resurrection appearance of Jesus happens within this discrete forty-nine-day window. The Omer is not a neutral backdrop but a prophetic stage. Paul articulates this typology explicitly in 1 Corinthians 15:20, identifying Christ as the “firstfruits” (ἀπαρχή, aparchē) of those who have fallen asleep. On the very day the priest waved the first sheaf of the barley harvest before the LORD (the Omer offering), Jesus rose from the grave. He is, therefore, presented as the literal antitype of that offering. The count began at that moment when the true First Fruits were presented—not in the earthly Temple, but before the Father in the Heavenly Tabernacle.
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The days following the Resurrection thereby form a structured sequence of revelation. First, the risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalene, the other women, and Simon Peter. Later that same day, He appears incognito to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, their hearts “burning within them” (Luke 24:32) as He expounds the Scriptures. That evening, He appears to ten disciples, commissioning them with a preliminary impartation of the Spirit.
The pattern continues. On the eighth day He appears to the eleven, including Thomas, inviting empirical verification of His wounds and thereby solidifying apostolic faith (John 20:26–29). The confession Thomas utters, “My Lord and my God,” is arguably the highest Christological pronouncement in the Gospels. Sometime in the subsequent weeks, a third resurrection appearance occurs by the Sea of Tiberias, where Jesus restores Peter over a breakfast of bread and fish (John 21). After this, Paul records an appearance to over five hundred brethren at once and then an appearance to His brother James—the skeptic who would become a pillar of the Jerusalem church (1 Cor 15:6–7). Finally, the eleven meet Him on an appointed mountain in Galilee, receiving the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20).
Each appearance unfolds within the forty-nine-day chain of the Omer count. While the Gospels do not assign a specific numbered day to every appearance, the entire season of revelation—from First Fruits to Pentecost—forms a coherent typological pattern that the Torah had foreshadowed for centuries.
The Ascension and the Final Stretch
Acts 1:3 records that Jesus presented himself alive over a period of forty days, speaking of the kingdom of God. Day 40 marks the Ascension, the end of his physical, resurrected presence among them. The number forty is deeply resonant in redemptive history: Moses spent forty days on Sinai, Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness, and Elijah journeyed forty days to Horeb. The forty days represent a period of testing, preparation, and transition. Now, the Messiah uses forty days to demonstrate his victory definitively before returning to the Father. But the narrative does not conclude here. Nine more days remain.
Consider the psychological and spiritual state of the apostles. For forty days, the risen Lord has touched them, eaten with them, and instructed them. The final day arrives. The Holy Spirit of God comes down on the apostles in an explosive revelatory event! Tongues of fire, visibly distributed, rest upon each of them. They begin to speak in languages they had not learned as the Spirit gives them utterance (Acts 2:2–4). The moment was worth the wait.
The Omer count was never merely an agricultural formula. It was a spiritual discipline of waiting. It taught Israel that the most transformative moments in redemptive history do not arrive in a single, undifferentiated blast of power but through the patient, faithful accumulation of prosaic days. One does not rush a harvest; one numbers the days until its ingathering.
Conclusion
The waiting of the Omer is not empty. The prophet Isaiah once spoke to all who wait upon the Lord:
…those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary.
they will walk without growing faint. (Isa 40:31)
You do not need to wait for a feast on another calendar. The period of the Omer lives on whenever you stand between a promise and its fulfillment. That job offer has not yet been received. That healing has not yet manifested. That relationship is not yet restored. Do not waste the waiting. Count your days as sacred. Let each evening sharpen your longing and each morning deepen your trust. God does not rush the harvest, and He does not abandon the in-between. Begin your own forty-nine days today. Mark them with prayer, with Scripture, and with silence. The fire will fall when your counting and waiting upon the Lord are complete.
Comments (22)
Thanks. Beautiful and thought provoking explanation
Let's keep thinking.
Thank you Dr Eli
It is lifechanging
We hear Counting down the days usually until you retire or some such big move
Waiting in anticipation
To do this in each new season with Jesus..
What does one do in the waiting…
This gives a whole new measure of working/waiting faithfully until the day.
The day of release💥
Many blessings
Kareena
So glad to hear!
Yes, Kay Marcus, in my lengthy dissertation and the resulting book (The Earliest View of New Testament Tongues), in chapter 5, I cover fairly fulsomely the topics of the number of apostolic speakers, the number of people from other countries and how many languages there were. To the latter issue, in Acts 2:8, there's often the erroneous conclusion that the geographic regions noted there were synonymous with different, distinct languages (which actually hadn't existed for quite some time), when Aramaic to the east of Israel and Greek to the west of Israel were the ""birth languages" (cf. Acts 2:8) of the Jewish diaspora who lived in URBAN centers abroad. Understanding the role of the Hebrew language, 'leshon ha-kodesh' ['holy language'], in first-century Palestine is crucial to understanding this significant “languages/tongues” (γλῶσσαι-glṓssai) issue.
With diglossia existing among first-century Judeans, it was a key factor in understanding what was meant by “other tongues” in Acts 2:4. “Among first-century Judeans, the religious language, 'leshon ha-kodesh' ['holy language'], Hebrew, was the language that both Palestinian and Diaspora Judeans expected to hear in the Temple liturgy, during the feast of Pentecost” (Zerhusen, 1995:126). “Instead of 'leshon ha-kodesh,' the disciples of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, began boldly speaking in ‘other tongues’ (i.e., languages other than Hebrew). The speakers spoke Aramaic and Greek, languages they knew, languages that were simultaneously the native languages of the crowd assembled in Acts 2” (Zerhusen, 1995:126).
As Dr. Eli does so faithfully, my dissertation and academic book seriously accounts for the Hebraic background and perspective of the Older and Newer Testaments. Understanding the OT and NT through the original Jewish context, culture, and language is the historical-grammatical method of interpretation that I adhere to. On the Amazon.ca description "Read more about this author," you get more info and the entire Table of Contents. You can read a decent sample of the Kindle version ($9.99 CAD) there or on Google Books. On Amazon.ca, the paperback version of "The Earliest View of New Testament Tongues" is currently at the very economical price of $11.95 CAD. The USA Amazon site always seems more expensive.
If one doesn't read and study the Older and Newer Testaments from the ancient Hebrew and Jewish perspective, as Dr. Eli generally does so well, they miss the real meaning of the Acts 2, 10, 19 and 1 Cor. 14 passages and many others.
His Majesty's Service,
Dr. Maurice Vellacott
God bless you, Doctor!
Thank you, Dr. Eli you put together the counting of the Omer and Isaiah 40:31, which previous to this, I had never connected it.
Thank you, Kay!
Many faithful Roman Catholics, a rare breed with todays cafeteria style doctrinal fidelity, set up Novena's, that is 9 days of consistent prayer around one theme to come to term a day before the memorial of a special event in the church.
An element of the first fruits understanding is that all those passing in faith until the second coming are members of the first fruits until the full blown global harvest in the judgment of GOD. The yet unfulfilled Romans 11 suggests a bright future for Abraham's seed before all is said and done which in itself might be the salvation of ecclesial Christianity.
Thank you for sharing, Michael!
I am so grateful to those of you who have decided to help me grow this ministry! May God bless you and keep you! If you are interested in making a contribution of any size, whether one- time or ongoing, please click here.
Dr. Eli, as a fellow South African university doctoral graduate, I appreciate your deep digging and Hebrew insights.
In this article, you say "They begin to speak in languages they had not learned as the Spirit gives them utterance (Acts 2:2–4)." As a Christian brother, I would strongly urge you to read my book "The Earliest View of New Testament Tongues: Understood as Non-Supernatural, Learned Earthly Languages" based on my 5 years of intensive research for my PhD at North-West University (Potchefstroom, ZA), available on Amazon.ca (cheaper than Amazon.com) or Wipf and Stock Publishers.
There is so much careless assumption from years of accretions from the allegorical, over spiritualizing, hagiographical interpretations of the church fathers which started with Irenaeus (about 160 AD) after the first hundred years of silence on this Acts 2 passage (better put, just viewed as normal, learned earthly languages in Acts 2 and 1 Cor. 14).
So many otherwise careful scholars just innocently regurgitate the standard conservative line that in Acts 2 the disciples were speaking languages they had never learned before. The text doesn't say that, as author, Dr. Luke, presents the account from the perspective of the hearers not the speakers, and otherwise decent Bible teachers make the careless presumption of getting into the mind of the speakers.
Also in Acts 2:8, there's often the erroneous conclusion that the geographic regions noted there were synonymous with different, distinct languages (which actually hadn't existed for quite some time), when Aramaic to the east of Israel and Greek to the west of Israel were the ""birth languages" (cf. Acts 2:8) of the Jewish diaspora who lived in URBAN centers abroad.
I want to encourage you to read my book thoroughly and to reread the pertinent biblical texts more carefully.
Anyhow, thanks for considering this linguistic-grammatical-cultural-historical-exegetical-translational truth in this "gift to the universal Church" and hopefully it gives some of our normally better Bible teachers cause for pause so "the sheep aren't led astray."
You also remark that "That they gathered in the upper room (Acts 1:13)" which should be accepted at face value, as long as we then don't needlessly and erroneously presume that they were in the "upper room" when the Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff). I have a relevant section (p. 167-171), in my book, on the question of "Where did the circumstances of Acts chapter 2 occur?"
Keep up the good work!
His Majesty's Service,
Brother Maurice Vellacott,
Ret. MP,
DMin (T.E.D.S. of T.I.U, Deerfield, IL, USA),
PhD (North-West University, Potchefstroom, ZA),
Grad Teacher Dip. (Evangelical Training Assoc.), Dallas Theological Seminary doctoral work, Jerusalem University College courses, Associate Instructor with Walk Thru the Bible
In your dissertation, had you included any information regarding the number of apostolic speakers, and the number of people from other countries and languages and how many languages there were? To me that would seem an improbable assumption.
Thank you, I wrote you to recommend zoom call :-)
Excellent dissertation, Dr. Eli. The wisdom of the Lord and the mastery of the Holy Spirit is upon you.
excelente disertación Dr. Eli. La sabiduría del Señor y la maestría del Espíritu Santo está sobre tí.
Thank you so much!!!
I wonder if "Jesus rose from the grave. He is, therefore, presented as the literal antitype of that offering." if anti-type is really ante-type as Jesus rose before the offering? Love the material you send out and publish.
Kent, thank you for all your support! God bless you!
“Wow”! All I can say is what an eye opening content.
I felt the Holy Spirit rush through me often as I read your article and the comments below. I am so thankful how you are able to help us understand and articulate the scriptures regarding the Omer and other specific feasts.
Please help me understand what day I should be at of the Omer and what “I” as a gentile should be doing since I wish to follow all aspects of events that are recorded in the Bible.
Just so you know I never heard of the Omer. However, it has come to light since your article which I am truly blessed by it.
Your teaching is amazing to me.
Many, many blessings to you Dr. Eli.
~ Sharon from South Tx.
Sharon, thank you so much for your support and encouragement!
Excellent teaching, like so many that I have read. I have the conviction that if Jesus was Jewish and came to fulfill the whole Law, not to abolish it, He must also have performed the counting of the Omer. When reading the Gospels, it can be observed that Jesus knew the Law; He was a Rabbi. Upon resurrecting, He indeed spent forty days with His disciples and appeared to many, even to five hundred. When He ascended, He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Promise, which would come within a few days. Nine days later, the Promise came, at Pentecost, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Excelente enseñanza, como tantas que he leído. Yo tengo la convicción que si Jesús fue judío y vino para cumplir toda la Ley, no para abrogarla, debió también hacer el coeo de Omer. Al leer los Evangelios puede observarse que Jesús conocía la Ley, era Rabí. Al resucitar, efectivamente estuvo cuarenta días con sus discípulos y apareció a muchos, incluso a 500. Al ascender dijo a sus discípulos que esperaran en Jerusalén la Promesa que vendría entre no muchos días. nueve días después vino la Promesa, en Pentencostés, y fueron llenos del Espíritu Santo.
Thank you so much for your encouragement and support! God bless!
I am so grateful to those of you who have decided to help me grow this ministry! May God bless you and keep you! If you are interested in making a contribution of any size, whether one- time or ongoing, please click here.